Posted on Monday, January 27 2014 @ 13:27 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Stratasys reveals the Objet500 Connex3, the first 3D printer capable of creating multi-colored objects in flexible materials. The device uses rubber and plastic as base materials, it's capable of offering different levels of rigidity, transparency and opacity. Color is provided by mixing cyan, magenta and yellow, just like in an inkjet printer, it even comes with six palettes of rubbery "tango" colors.
At the technical level, the printer can go as fine as 16-micron layers, offering a high level of detail and finish, and can pump out around 30kg of resin (that is, base material) per run. Talking to the BBC, a Stratasys spokesperson said the advanced printer could cut down industrial design prototyping times by 50 percent, although he was talking about the time from prototype to market, not printing time itself.
The Objet500 Connex3D ships toay but the flexible color printing base materials won't be available until Q2 2014. This device is designed for industrial design prototyping so don't be shocked by the $330,000 price tag.
